U.S. forces still detaining Iraqi youths; reports suggest some abused

[Whoa_Nelly]

At least someone else is now carrying this story. Now, how long before it hits the US news?

Jul 8 - US-led forces in Iraq are believed by the International Red Cross to be holding more than 100 youths in Iraqi detention facilities, including at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison. Speaking on a German TV news magazine program, Florian Westphal, a Red Cross representative said, "Between January and May of this year we've registered 107 children, during 19 visits in 6 different detention locations" controlled by US troops in Iraq. Westphal suggested that the number of youths detained could be even higher.

Based on the German report, the international organization Save the Children is calling on the Danish government, which has forces in areas where children have been detained, to begin immediately working to gain their release.

According to UNICEF, "The classification of these children as detainees is worrisome because it includes unspecified length of detention without contact to their families pending further proceedings or legal actions."

(a little) more...
http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=660

[shraby]

1. So far it's been posted

here on DU from the German, Norwegian, and French newspapers. I sent the Norwegian one to my senator.

[allemand]

2. Time for the senators to ask the Pentagon some hard questions

about those Iraqi children still in detention:

Pentagon to brief Congress on Red Cross reports on prisons in Iraq

By Associated Press, 7/8/2004 16:36

WASHINGTON (AP) The Pentagon will brief members of Congress on Friday on confidential reports by the International Committee of the Red Cross regarding conditions at U.S. prisons in Iraq.

Larry Di Rita, chief spokesman for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, told reporters the material will be shared with lawmakers in closed meetings. The information will not be released publicly.

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/190/wash/Pentagon_to_brief_Congress_on_:.shtml